


Novelties and Treacheries

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Canon-Typical Racism, F/M, Insanity, Jealousy, Novelty, Politics, Rejection, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 19:12:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16046789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: When Jon proves false, Josiane discovers that Delia is her only true friend in Tortall.





	Novelties and Treacheries

Novelties and Treacheries

“You’re courting His Highness.” Delia’s eyes burned green as envy when she and Josiane met at a ball Queen Lianne was too weak to host, and her tone was poisonous as the rainbow tree frogs that lurked in the shadows of jungles, the leaping nightmares of any child reared in the Copper Isles. Watching as the whirling pairs of dancers parted and made new matches as the music dictated, she added, “I’d congratulate you if I didn’t know that poison often comes in a gold chalice. Be warned, Your Highness that the prince changes ladies with the seasons as we ladies do fashions, and even when you are the lady of the season, he doesn’t remain faithful to you.” 

“Why do you tell me this?” Josiane flashed her teeth like fangs over her glittering wine glass. She knew that Delia was an old paramour Jon had discarded like ill-fitting shoes. “To warn me that you have your claws dug so deeply into His Highness that you’ll never let me have him?” 

“The prince will never let you have him.” Delia’s smile was as cold and as cruel as Josiane’s. “His Highness loves his novelties, but once the charm of your newness has worn off, he’ll seek out the next bit of fresh flesh and leave you pining in the dust.” 

“As you are?” Josiane sneered as she sipped at her goblet of wine, taking care not to smear her lipstick on the brim. There would be time enough to ruin her makeup when Jon kissed her tonight. “I thank you for your concern, Lady Delia, but assure you it’s unwarranted. I’m a princess, exactly the sort of women His Highness was born to marry, not some painted court lady.” 

Josiane pronounced the final three words with the same disdain she would have “prostitute” and left unsaid–because she didn’t have to say it–the “like you” that turned Delia into the embodiment of this category of contemptuous court lady. With a last teeth-baring, Josiane left Delia to stew in her jealousy.

It was only Jon stripped everything from her–her gowns, her gems, her dignity, her pride, her virginity, and even her sanity–and gave her nothing that Josiane realized that Delia had been her true friend, the one who had warned her of Jon’s treachery when everybody else at court had been enemies complicit in his betrayal eager to kiss up to her with false faces. When Jon no longer saw or heard her, having eyes and ears only for the barbarian half-breed princess from Sarain, it was Delia to whom she whispered her resentments to on cold strolls through the palace gardens. 

“The uncrowned king loves his novelties.” Josiane gave a cracked grin, remembering Delia’s words with a feeling of being broken that could only be repaired by smashing Jon’s life as he had hers. “Surely he must be fluttering about his savage princess’s ears with compliments about how she is the best he’s ever known.” 

Jon, Josiane tried to forget, used to murmur that every evening in her ear before nipping at her lobe. 

“She’ll learn the words are meaningless soon enough.” Delia shared a smirk with Josiane as they looped arms, not needing a man to escort them along the cobblestone paths through the dying flowers. “Her beauty will dim in his eyes before she blinks.” 

“Then she’ll discover what revenge is.” Josiane threw back her head in a cackling laugh that wasn’t about amusement so much as it was about scorching shame that could only be cooled through vengeance. “So will he.” 

“He won’t live to enjoy his reign.” Delia’s promise in the shell of her ear that Jon would die for being false as a counterfeit coin was sweeter than any of Jon’s flattery had ever been.


End file.
